A restaurant in Madrid has forked out €3,600 for a red tuna fish weighing nearly 300kg caught recently by a fishing boat from Hondarribia (Guipúzcoa).

Not only is it the biggest fish of its kind ever caught by any of the town's fleet, it is also being talked about as the biggest catch - in living memory at least - "anywhere off the Cantabrian coast."

It was captured by the sixteen-man crew of the 'Itsas Eder', 27 miles off shore last Friday, and involved "a considerable amount of work" to keep it fresh for table in a specially-adapted hold until it was unloaded last Sunday, according to the ship's captain, Eugenio Elduayen.

A statement released by the Hondarribia Fishermen's Guild explained that it had been decided recently that, in order to "improve the sustainability of their activities," the fleet would throw back any red tuna fish weighing less than 30kg, and that "the capture of this example fully supports and maintains this environmentally-respectful attitude."